Not too sure what I'm doing =\

[SaritaMarina]

I haven't been doing this for long, and you can pretty much say, I have no idea what the heck I'm doing.  After making solid plans in July of this year that me and my partner wanted to have kids, I began to call around to my doctors and local sperm banks to feel out how this was going to all go down. Local sperm banks outlined what we would have to do, and it sounded pretty simple.

I got Inseminated on Aug 3rd, with my nurse practitioner after I came up positive on an ovulation test just a few days after my period ended. I felt it was better if she did it rather than doing it at home, but it wasn't, because she didn't know what she was doing either. She ended up putting IUI sperm right outside of my cervix, where it didn't belong. Then, to get reassure we got all the swimmers, she used some saline water to rinse out the tubing...This caused a lot of leaking, as I only had 10 minutes to lay there before another patient would need the room, then I had to run to the car and take a 45 minute drive back home. I tried to elevate my hips on the car ride, but after a huge head rush, I had to lay straight down in the back seat. Must have been a funny sight to others driving by, seeing 2 people driving in the front normal and another in the back, ass up.

That pregnancy test came up negative, followed by my period. Waste of $700.

So here we are again. I decided to be more prepared this time, get my hands on the frozen vial before I ovulate. I decided to go with ICI sperm, as it was cheaper and more appropriate to try at home. I'm hoping this isn't another waste of money, because I haven't ovulated, I'm on day 11, and it needs to be returned by day 13. I ovulated within a couple days after my period ended last month so I thought the same would happen this month. Like I said, I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just wishing for best. Has anyone else ovulated within days? or was this a false read on the OPK?

[KM84]

Hi SaritaMarina,

What a confusing time, I'm sorry you have to go through that.

Do you chart your temperatures at all? Many people around here have reported trouble with the ovulation strips, and find them more useful if used in conjunction with other ovulation signs such as basal body temperature and cervical mucus. While it's possible to ovulate that early in your cycle, it would be very very unusual.

If you haven't read it already, the book Taking Charge of your Fertility is a favorite around here. But if you want to get started right away, http://www.fertilityfriend.com/ has some great articles and tools for tracking your fertility signs. I had a really good experience with it, the date that Fertility Friend says I ovulated matched up perfectly with my doctor's ultrasound to check my baby's age.

I know there are some other people around here who have used sperm from a bank, hopefully they'll chime in on some of the aspects specific to that.

[gr00vymama]

I would chart for a couple months to get an idea of your ovulation day and fertile window.  Especially since it is so expensive for you to keep winging it.  Fertilityfriend is a great sight it not only gives you the ovulation/fertility info it will be useful in the future to have records of your cycles if you have to see fertility doctors.  It's also really easy to use.  Good luck to you!!  

[Jaimee]

Absolutely agree with the pp's.  Start charting ASAP to get a good idea of what's happening in your cycles so you can better predict O for insemination and pinpoint it afterward for counting/test purposes.  I can't imagine continuing to spend hundreds of dollars each month basing ovulation on OPK's.  OPK's are notoriously difficult to interpret and simply do not work for all women.  Some women see positives for days on end, no positives at all, or random positives well after confirmed O.  With the strips you  need to be sure that the test line is darker than the control line, so interpretation can be tricky.  Usually you can see them darkening as you approach your peak day and this is your clue to try testing twice a day (morning and night) to try and catch your actual peak.  With the straight +/- kind you can easily miss your peak day, but they also don't require interpretation of how dark the line is.  So pros and cons to both kinds.  Then remember that you are likely to ovulate within 24-36 hours AFTER your peak reading, but it is not a guarantee.   Your body can gear up to O and not succeed.  Many ordinary things can delay O like stress, travel, illness, injury, diet changes, strenuous exercise, etc.  O could be delayed for days or even weeks.  This is where charting comes in handy.  You can see your body gearing up, but know that you didn't actually O and therefore know to keep your eyes open for your body's next attempt and not waste that sperm!  Learning how many days you typically have between O and AF (your luteal phase) will also help you anticipate AF.

If you'd like help getting going with charting, just post!

[SaritaMarina]

Thanks everyone!!